Cabinet latch



June 30, 1942. D. M. ROBINSON 2,288,171

CABINET LATCH Filed July 15, 1940 3 rwwm flAv p MROBJNSON Patented June 30, 1942 TNT OFFICE CABINET LATCH Application July 13, 1940, Serial No. 345,254 1 Claim; (oi. 292 221) The present invention relates to latches and more particularly to latches intended for use on cabinets wherein the latch is generally of relatively light construction.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved latch of the above-indicated type wherein substantially all the parts may be readily stamped from sheet metal, thus making the latch relatively inexpensive to manufacture although of rugged construction and efficient in operation.

Another object of the invention is a latch of the above-indicated type which may readily be mounted and when so mounted may be readily adjusted into proper alignment or, after being mounted, may be readily adjusted to take care of any warping or the like of the door structure which may occur.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation showing the latch in mounted position;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the door showing the latch in mounted position;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view partially in section showing the latch in locked position;

Fig. 4 is an end view of the latch partly in section and in the position shown in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the bolt support or casing.

Referring to the drawing, the latch, generally designated as A, is shown as mounted on a cabinet door Ill (fragmentarily shown) having a lip l2 movable into and out of closed position relative to the jamb l3 (fragmentarily shown) carry ing the strike B.

More specifically, the latch A includes a case or support l4 having a base plate It, a vertically extending front wall ll, vertically extending end walls [3, and a rear wall 28 extending at an acute angle to the base. As best seen in Fig. 5, the front wall I! is reduced in width at a point slightly above the base and is then bent rearwardly at approximately a forty-five degree angle to provide a stop plate 22 for cooperation with the keeper, as hereinafter described. To mount the support 14, the end walls [8 have flanges 24 extending laterally from the lower edge thereof;

the fiangesbeing longitudinally slotted at 26 to receive securing screws 28 to permit adjustment of the support to align it with the edge of the door.

To mount the bolt in the case, the side walls iii are provided with aligned apertures 30 positioned just rearwardlyof the front wall I! for receiving a pin 3i secured by having its ends extending beyond the end walls and then headed over against same. The pin 3| provides'a pivotal mounting for the latch bolt 35 which comprises end walls 36 and aconnecting outer wall 38; the end walls 36 being triangular and having aligned apertures 40 adjacent the apex thereof for mounting same on pin 31.- The outer wall 38 of the bolt is substantially semi-circular throughout the greater portion of its width, but terminates at its forward end in a sharply downturned camming portion 42' and-at its rear edge with an outwardly extending abutment 44 adapted to-engage beneath a stop 46 bent forwardly from the upper edge of the rear wall 28.

There is further carried by the bolt a transverse pin 48 arranged in apertures 49 provided in the side walls thereof and secured bypeaning over the ends of the pin; the pin being positioned in substantialalignment withthe' pivot pin 32. With the pin 48 so positioned, the boltis normally urged to its latching position as indicated in Fig. 3 by aspring 5B. The spring 50 includes a U-shap ed central portion 52 adapted to underlie the pin 48' andthen has severalturns in a counterclockwise direction around the pivot pin 3| with its ends 54 abutting against the base plate It adjacent the stops 55, which stops merely prevent the ends of the spring from entering between the edges of the base plate [6 and side walls I8. With the spring so wound, the U portion 52 will normally tend to pivot the bolt 34 in a counterclockwise direction with the abutment M engaged beneath the stop 46. When the bolt is so positioned, it in effect forms a closure for the cover for support M with its end walls 36 located between the edges of the stop plate 22 and the side walls 18 and with the forwardmost edge 58 of the outer wall 38 spaced from the stop plate 22 to form a keeper receiving opening 60 therebetween.

To cooperate with the bolt there is mounted on the jamb [3 the strike B which comprises a plate 62 having struck out therefrom a keeper 64 having an angular camming stop 66 adapted to engage against the stop 22 of the support It and a lateral stop 63 adapted to engage beneath the forwardmost edge 58 of the latch bolt. With this arrangement, when the latch is moved from open to closed position the camming portion 42 of the bolt will engage the angular camming stop 66 of the keeper, whereupon the latch bolt will be pivoted in a clockwise direction against the tension of the spring 50 until the stop 66 engages the stop 22, whereupon the spring 50 will then pivot the latch into latching position with the forward edge 58 thereof overlying the stop 68 of the keeper 64.

It will be noted that with the latch constructed in the above-indicated manner the engaging portion 58 of the latch and the pivot pin 31 thereof are in alignment and that the stop 68 of the keeper 64 is at substantially right angles to a line interconnecting the pivot pin and the engaging edge of the bolt. Thus when the door is in closed position there is no tendency of the latch to open and a very light spring 50 is sufficient to operate same.

To manually retract the latch, there is further mounted on the pin 48 the inner flattened end of a tube 12; the tube then extending through an aperture 74 provided in the base plate and through an opening 76 cut in the door Ill, and the outer end of the tube has threaded therein a bolt 78 terminating in an eyelet 80 positioned outside the door and operatively connected to a handle 88. To accomplish this connection, there is mounted on the outer face of the door an escutcheon plate 82 having outwardly extending ears 84 supporting a pivot pin 86. The pin 86 forms a pivot for the handle 88; the latter including rearwardly extending side plates 90 adapted to straddle the ears 84 and provided with apertures alignable with the pin 86 and through which the pin extends. Beneath the pin 86 the side plates of the handle are further provided with aligned apertures for receiving a pin 92 adapted to extend through the eyelet of the bolt 73, whereby upon pivoting of the handle the bolt will be drawn outwardly to pivot the latch in a counter-clockwise direction to unlatched position.

To permit the latch to operate independently of the handle upon the closing of the door, the flattened end of the tube 10 has an elongated slot 94 therein for allowing movement of the pin 48 relative to the handle structure without operating same. It is also obvious that the spring 50 functions not only to maintain the bolt in latching position, but also functions to return the operating means for the bolt to their normal position.

As previously indicated, the particular advantage of this type of latch is that except for the spring, the pins, and the mechanism interconnecting the latch to the handle, the remaining parts may all be stamped from sheet metal and then bent into finished parts as illustrated. A still further advantage is that the latch may be readily mounted onthe door and the various parts adjusted to align same with the door. This is evident from Fig. 4 where, due to the provision of the slots 25 in the bolt support, the bolt support may be aligned with the edge of the door and it is also apparent from the arrangement of the tube and bolt structure that the latch may be mounted on doors of various thicknesses.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claim is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of -the scope of the invention which, as a matter of between said side members and pivotally mounted adjacent their forward ends on a pin carried by the side members of said casing adjacent the forward edges thereof, said outer connecting wall having an abutment extending from its rear edge and engaging a stop extending from the rear member of the casing, spring means normally pivoting said bolt to latching position with said abutment engaging said stop whereby said camming portion will be in alignment with the bolt pivot pin to define an opening for the reception of a keeper and the outer connecting Wall of the bolt to close the open top of the casing.

DAVID MALCOLM ROBINSON. 

